Do women have a disadvantage on Ninja Warrior? Female competitors weigh in

By Sam Downing| 1 year ago

Australian Ninja Warrior's most formidable female competitors debate whether women have a disadvantage on the obstacle course.

Watch Australian Ninja Warrior and it’s hard not to leap to one conclusion: it looks a lot harder for women than it does for men.

Far more women have splashed out before hitting the finish buzzer than men (with one semifinal left, no woman has yet made it through to the grand final), and the course’s obstacles demand extraordinary upper-body strength — which men are more likely to have than women.

That’s not sexist guff. It’s just basic biology that, in terms of muscle power, women aren’t as physically strong as men (in general. Obviously, some individual women are stronger than some individual men).

“We can train just as much as men can, obviously, and we can get stronger as well, but it's just harder.”

But when Coach asked Hah if that’s a disadvantage for Ninja Warrior’s women, her answer was swift: “No.”

While men are generally bigger and stronger than women, Hah believes that extra size can put the fellas at a disadvantage on some obstacles — citing the Bridge of Blades and the Spinning Log as examples.

“They aren't going to move as aggressively for me, who's 56kg, as for a man who's 100kg,” she says. “And then even hanging from ropes or poles or bungee cords, there's less flex and there's less weight for me to carry.

“I think that it evens out.”

Janet Smith, who qualified for the third semifinal despite splashing out in the heats, says women may have a disadvantage — not because of a lack of strength, but a lack of reach.

“I found even if I was the same height as one of the guys, their reach would still be that little bit further because they've got broader shoulders,” she says. “They had that extra one or two inches even if we were the same height.

“Some expanses you've got to jump or reach to are quite far for the girls.”

Andrea Hah fails to summit the Warped Wall in the heats

Those expanses were perhaps most obvious for Betsy Burnett: at barely 150cm tall, she’s one of Australian Ninja Warrior’s shortest competitors. In both her heat and semifinal she splashed out on a similar obstacle, unable to launch off a trampoline high enough to reach the next handhold.

But the F45 Training instructor doesn’t believe the course should be adjusted for women or shorter competitors.

“It’s so hard to say ‘it’s unfair, it’s not unfair’, because everyone’s different,” she told Coach in her Facebook Live interview. “If you start making changes for someone who’s shorter, are you going to make changes for someone else? You’d have to start making changes for everyone.

“One some of the obstacles your height will be an advantage and on some it will be a disadvantage.”